


Delight

by Averia



Series: Score [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: Family, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 12:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6005413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Averia/pseuds/Averia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Aww, I did not know you were so interested in my love life. Are you finally growing up?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Delight

Damian had learned to realize subtle changes in his environment since birth. It was as much a skill of an assassin as of a vigilante and had only been fine tuned ever since he had joined his father. He should have seen the signs from the beginning but the only thing he realised after he had come back from Colin was the feeling of wrongness. And it annoyed him greatly that he could not immediately find a reason for it. First, he thought that Pennyworth might have changed the furniture or had taken one of the many pictures down. A look around revealed that something so trivial did not seem to be the cause for his minimal discomfort. He was left wondering, without realizing that the change was sitting right in front of him.

He sat down beside Grayson and his mentor tilted the paper in his hand to give him a look at the Sudoku. Damian scoffed lightly. It was rather easy and Grayson was filling it out without seeming to stop his hand motion once. They usually passed the time with the hardest. Grayson only looked at the easiest when he was nervous.   

In fact, Grayson looked a bit dishevelled and Damian wondered if his father and he had fought again. It seemed to happen even more than usual and only behind closed doors. At the beginning, he had at least been able to take part in those conversations but now he felt left out and they were often enough about his behaviour. Even if he himself saw no problem in any of his actions, he did not try to kill anyone, after all, he still understood on a fundamental level why his family remained concerned.  

As if realizing his worry a smile appeared on Grayson’s lips. It was a foolproof indication that they had not confronted each other. Grayson always failed to appear alright after those fights, as if his father had ripped a piece of his heart out.

“How was it?” Grayson asked interestedly. Damian despised those questions. He never knew what Grayson wanted to hear.

“We had an enjoyable time” he replied gruffly.  

The answer seemed to satisfy him even though Damian did not understand why. He knew Grayson had not only asked out of pure politeness but his answer had held no substantial information either. Instead of the normal chatter or further prying silence developed. And it did not sit well with him.

He knew that Grayson had been with his speedster friend today. Theoretically, he could have asked about the meeting but he had never particularly liked the speedster and despite wanting to hear more than silence he could not bring himself to ask. He was hardly the beginner of conversations anyway.

Dick flipped the filled Sudoku over, revealing a new one that might be a bit harder and let him hesitate at first.

Damian looked right up into blue eyes, just hoping eye contact alone would start a conversation, but Grayson did not even seem to realise that his eyes were thrilling onto him. He was completely absent. Damian would have complained about being ignored but the way Grayson was twirling the pen showed him clearly how far his mentor was gone. Damian frowned at him and begun to decipher the expression.

Thoughtful and nervous was the way to describe it but the flickering tongue drew more attention to the lips than they normally did. His eyes narrowed, an intense glare manifesting in them when he realised that someone had bit into his mentor's lips. He finally spoke up, making Dick blink in surprise.

“Please tell me that _the speedster_ did not put his lips on you.”

Grayson’s eyes widened and red colour was shooting up his face until Grayson could not even look at him anymore.

“No, he did not, ” said Grayson, clearing his throat.

Damian scrutinized him and Grayson did his best to fight the blush down. Something had been wrong with the answer but Damian was also sure Grayson was not lying to him. There was no reason for that after all.

“Good. I would have really questioned your sanity if you would have let him do _that_ to you.”

Grayson grimaced at his words but Damian would not take them back. For him, it was a disgusting image but he did wonder who it had been hopefully not the ginger haired trouble.

“Who did you meet then?” he asked boldly and Grayson pressed his lips together, shrugging. Damian raised an eyebrow when Grayson evaded the subject. Normally his mentor could speak about love and romantics all day.

“Aww, I did not know you were so interested in my love life. Are you finally growing up?” Grayson asked instead, amusement in his voice again but it was not reaching his eyes, they were tight with worry. All this hinted at stress. Damian huffed, arms crossing.

“I simply need more target practice and who better to use than the useless meat you fool away your time with?” he asked, disdain filling his words. He did not like that Grayson held such secrets. It always meant something was wrong.

Grayson looked at him for a long time while he brooded beside him, the hint of a smile revealing his amusement. There was still a bit time until patrol would start, Damian still had a chance to pry at least some information out of his mentor.

“Do you really want to know?” Grayson asked after a while, letting the Sudoku and the pen sink onto the desk before turning back to him. There was a spark of hope in his eyes as if he wanted him to ask and Damian frowned, normally Grayson spoke about such things freely.

Damian slightly raised his nose.

“Like I said: target practice” he warned and Dick laughed quietly the nervousness disappearing.

“Target practice?” another voice asked and Damian blinked up at his father who had appeared beside them, one hand settling onto the couch between their face, successfully stopping Grayson from scooting nearer. His mentor looked up at his father, the smile replaced by a slight frown. 

It was obvious that Grayson did not want his father to know what they were talking about, the question was why?   

“I talked to Colin about his next training regime. I think it is time for him to learn to control himself better” Damian said but knew it was not the best lie. His father looked at him for a long moment. It was clear he had seen right through it. Then his gaze swept to Grayson and finally fell onto the Sudoku. His eyes tightened slightly and Grayson closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“We will start patrol earlier, ” said his father finally and his words did not allow any disapproving response, then he disappeared into the kitchen.

“Does he already know?” Damian asked nearly feeling a bit envious and Grayson snorted with a smile on his face that Damian could not quite define with an emotion. Had the fights been about the mysterious date lately instead of him?

“You could say that,” Grayson said and as if on cue his father returned with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. He walked past them, opening the grandfather clock and looked back at them, his irritation masked through impatience.

“Well?” he asked and Grayson stood up with a sigh, slipping down between Bruce and the wall. Damian did not miss the hand his father settled onto the small of his back and he followed quickly with narrowed eyes. He wanted to know what this was about. Now.

They changed fast and without much talking until they went out into the night and Grayson breathed through, launching himself onto the next rooftop like a bullet, mantle flapping behind him. There seemed to be irritation behind every movement and his father was not better, he had heard harsh whispering in the cave but he had not thought it would lead to this. Damian felt out of place as if he was missing something and it was much harder to work in tandem with his two angry Batmen. At least they seemed to complement each other perfectly. 

They soon decided to go into three different directions but it was a calm night. There were only a few fights and a fire at the docks that was quickly taken care of. The only interesting thing was the rumour about Two-Face planning to expand his area. He flipped to the meeting point again, seeing a shadow hush over him, the movements clearly belonging to Grayson rather than his father. He kept in the shadows, wondering if they would talk about the issue if he was not there.

To his delight Grayson did not wait long, dropping behind his father and rising behind the crouched form like an angry shadow.

“Don’t you think he has a right to know?” was hissed into the wind and Damian had a hard time understanding the words.

His father did not react for the next few moments but then the mass of black rose slowly, towering over the smaller Batman. Not that Grayson seemed intimidated.

“Do you think you have the right to tell him?” Bruce growled and Dick bristled, showing his teeth. 

“Did you really just? _The right to tell him?_ We talked about this” Dick said standing his ground and Damian raised an eyebrow, crawling nearer.

“I know but he is _my son_ ,” his father said firmly, hands settling onto the smaller shoulders and stepping closer “he sees you as a brother. I can’t just”

His father broke off, his head snapping to his hiding place and Damian wondered how he had been noticed without even moving but he slunk out of the shadows and the hands pulled away from Grayson. Damian scrutinized them for a moment but nobody said anything to him, even if he could hear Grayson sigh when he turned away slightly, and soon they were on the move again. There was a slight slump to the shoulders of _his_ Batman and Damian wondered what the discussion was really about. The meaning behind his father’s words did evade him for the next few moments while he watched them flying in front of him, side by side. It was simply so unlikely that he did not want to see the chance of it being true.

He followed his father up to his study, a safe distance at first but slipped into the door before it fell closed. His father looked at him with suspicion but did not say anything when he scrutinized his environment. He took in the pictures and grasped the one on his father’s desk that was facing the brooding form.

The picture had been shot unknown to Damian and was showing nearly their entire family during one of the few times they were together in civil. Damian could remember that day clearly. He had just come back into the room when Grayson had wound his arms around him and tickled him until he had started to cry from forced laughter.

The camera had captured the beginning when Grayson and he had been smudged together by the cheeks, his brother with a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes while he had a frown on his lips that was trying to hide his own contentment. The others were laughing in the background not in focus anymore.

He placed the picture back on the desk and looked up at his father, eyes narrowed and he tried to decide if he was really drawing the right conclusions. But it just had to be like this. Grayson would not have been so mysterious if not and his father not as dismissive.

“Why did you prohibit him from telling me?” Damian prompted and his father sighed.

“I was not sure how you would react,” he said not explaining himself but Damian knew how his mother thought about homosexuality, how he had thought before others had shown him that there was no harm being done, that it was all the same love.

“You explained yourself with the fact that I am your son, why?”

His father looked tiredly down at the picture.

“I don’t know,” his father said, gritting his teeth “because he should be my son too?”

Damian had never seen them as father and son. There was the legacy of Robin and the knowledge that they were but he had never specified their relationship in his brain. It was fluid, changing.

“You made your decision and you are still using me as an excuse to fall back on your indecisions. Nothing about this behaviour is honourable” Damian spat and his father scowled at him but before he could be reprimanded about his tone, he turned and walked away, trying to keep the smile off his lips.   


End file.
